Flashback
by fieryu
Summary: This story was inspired by 'that' jumper from suspicion. Don't ask my muse works in mysterious ways. I hope the 80s references don't go over everyone's head and to that I hope some of them are accurate, I did do some research. No spoilers at all.
1. Chapter 1

This story was inspired by 'that' jumper from suspicion. Don't ask my muse works in mysterious ways. I hope the 80s references don't go over everyone's head - and to that I hope some of them are accurate, I did do a little research.

"Hey you're …" Ziva started as she swung the door open " Oh! Sorry … I was … ah. Yes can I help you?"

"You can, would you be a Ms Ziva David?" the young man at her door asked looking at a shiny new clipboard, that was also a chaotic mess of rumpled papers.

"That would depend on who you are?"

"Okay. Okay I'll take that as a yes. I have a package for you, could you just…"

"Not so fast busker" Ziva exclaimed placing one hand on the man's chest in the gesture of stop and placing her other on her hip. She paused when she noticed the very puzzled look on his face. "What!" she bit out."

"Busker? I'm not a busker."

"It is one of those silly things you Americans say. No?"

"I think you mean Buster, Not so fast Buster."

"Okay. Whatever, show me some ID." Ziva asserted trying to regain some authority.

"Oh yeah sure, it's right here." He became very flustered as he tried to untangle his ID chain from his scarf and jacket ties, without dropping the parcel or clipboard. "I'm … um .. from .. um Bell couriers" he mumbled into his chest unable to free all the cords.

"Oh for goodness sakes, let me." Ziva sighed as she reached over and grabbed the card from the man, she studied it carefully then let it go. Looking back up at him "Sorry it's an occupational hazard. So Tom Sarius what do you have for me?"

The sorry did nothing to soothe poor Tom, he mumbled something about first and likely last week on the job. He wondered why so many people responded badly to receiving parcels.

He smiled nervously and held out the clipboard, "If you could just sign here." Once Ziva completed this and handed over the clipboard, Tom quickly handed over the parcel, turned and almost ran down the hall.

Ziva smiled apologetically at his retreating back and edged back into her apartment, closing the door with her foot. She studied the box as she walked, she recognized Tony's scribble immediately. Instead of relaxing further she tensed "What is he up to?" she sighed.

Sitting on the sofa, she placed the box on the table and began to hack her way in.

The first thing she noticed was a rainbow of bright colours as she carefully pulled out a striped long sleeved top, amazingly it seemed to contain every colour available on the spectrum from black to white. "What?" she breathed. Looking into the box again she pulled out a large white T-shirt which when unfolded screamed out "Relax" in large bold lack type. She shook her head baffled as to what his all meant. Next was a black skirt with ruffles and large coloured dots. Finally she pulled out a pair of knee high socks with two bright cloured stripes around the top. One more look in the box revealed a short note from Tony.

"See you at 1900. It's eighties night, So dress up!"

Blowing out a sigh and laugh on one breath, Ziva mumbled "Wear these! Not a chance!"

She sank back into the couch and laughed as she held up the ridiculous looking skirt.

"Tony! Tony! What are you planning?" she muttered nervously. It made her so mad that Tony could make her nervous, tough trained killer that she was, she would turn to jelly when he would look at her with that knowing twinkle in his eyes. As she sat and ran through all the possible scenarios for this strange outfit, time slipped by, she gave no thought to actually putting on the clothes when she was startled by a knock at her door.

She jumped up quickly, pulled the door open ready to pummel an answer out of him, when the sight before her stunned her into silence, her mouth fell open and her eyes widened in shock.

"David you might want to shut your mouth, you're starting to drool." Tony smirked as he placed a finger under her chin snapping her mouth shut and then stepping into her apartment, "You're not dressed." He accused turning back to her.

"I … I … I … what … hunh!" was all she could utter.

"Wow! Speechless Ziva, I like this." He flopped down on the sofa and held up the skirt, "It's called a rara skirt, the eighties sure had its moments."

Ziva found her voice finally, "and what do you call those?" she exclaimed in horror as she pointed to Tony's pants.

"Oh, you like? They're known as MC hammer pants, I wore purple to match your hair."

"What? I don't have purple hair."

"You will!" Tony said placing a bag that Ziva hadn't noticed on the coffee table.

"No! I wont, over your dead body"

"You mean "my …" he stopped when he saw the look, "you know what you mean. Come on Ziva! We have been doing the same thing every Tuesday night now for 6 months, I thought a night out would be fun."

"I agreed to teach you piano, not … not … this humiliation. You look ridiculous and what is 'choose life' supposed to mean." Ziva was so far out of her comfort zone, Tony was acting very strange, he was dressed up in metallic purple pants that looked big enough for an elephant and was wearing a T-shirt with that familiar black type only this one read "Choose Life". She could barely put a coherent thought together.


	2. Dressing Up

Dressing Up

"Tony what is this all about? You don't do dress up and I definitely do not do dress up" Ziva pleaded sitting in the chair opposite him.

"I know I can't quite believe it myself, I think all the slaps to the back of the head have finally taken their toll. Look this was Abby's idea, it has been a tough couple of weeks she said we needed to do something off the wall. This is it, so buck up sparky we are going to party like it's 1999, or close enough." Tony enthused before standing up and grabbing Ziva's reluctant arms and pulling her to her feet, with a cheeky grin he reached for the buttons on her shirt before she slapped him away.

"Casanovo you are not, hands off, I am not wearing those ridiculous clothes."

"Come on think of it as an undercover operation."

"Is it?" Ziva asked hopefully. "Tell me it is and I might be able to do it. Is this your idea of a joke? Did Gibbs send you here?"

"Okay then, this is a top secret op. Gibbs suspects that the director is moonlighting as and 80s DJ. He wants us to go in undercover and take some surveillance photos. Will that do."

"Hmmph. You could have done better, not very convincing." Ziva fell back into her chair, glaring at the offending clothes.

Tony sat on the table in front of her with puppy dog eyes he proceeded to stare her down.

"This silence treatment only works for Gibbs, you can't pull it off." She smirked.

Tony only stared harder, Ziva stared back, for ten minutes there was nothing but silence in the room, gradually something else began to creep in though, they both seemed to notice at the same time, becoming restless and uncomfortable."

"I can't do this with you dressed like that, you look like a clown." Ziva broke the silence. Tony only smiled and held out the clothes. "Oh alright, I give in, but there is to be no camera and no talk of this in the office tomorrow." She warned. Tony simply mimed zipping his lips and throwing away the key. "uugghh" she stood and took the clothes from Tony's hands and then stepped away towards her room, mumbling as she went.

"Can I at least know where we are going?" she turned just as she reached the door. Tony simply smiled and wiggled his eyebrows at her. That was disturbing she tried to tell herself, but she hated to admit it she was finding Tony's behaviour intriguing.

Within minutes she was back out in the living area, "Not a word!" she warned once again as Tony stood to take in the sight. His face reflected many emotions , he looked fit to laugh out loud, as well as a little shamed that he had asked this of her, but also very, very impressed.

"I'm not afraid of you, you look like a kitten. Who would have thought knee highs and a little ruffle skirt could affect so much change, you look so cute and cudd…" He didn't get to finish as Ziva flew across the room and crash tackled him to the sofa.

"Don't you forget I could still kill you with my thumb and one finger." She hissed into his ears.

Tony laughed out loud, "Ah my little wild cat, you … ow… ow! Okay I take it all back." Tony gasped out as Ziva slowly released the pressure her knee was placing on his groin.

"Now will you tell me where we are going?" She asked sitting back on Tony's lower legs.

"Nope." He reached over to the table and grabbed the bag. "Time to do the hair and accessories."

"No way. This is embarrassing enough." Ziva shook her head as she moved off the couch, Tony quickly grabbed her and sat across her lap, affectively pinning her down.

"Your taking some big risks tonight Tony, I think you should see a doctor, maybe you are right about the head slaps."

"Aaahh, play nice." Tony said as he felt Ziva's body prepare a counter move.

Ziva let out a long sigh as she relaxed her body, she looked at Tony and asked again "What are you doing Tony, really doing?"

Tony didn't look up as he took plastic bangles from the bag and slipped them over Ziva's small but deadly hands. He then pulled out a coloured band made from plaited wool and begun to tie it around her wrist. "What is this?" Ziva asked as she lifted her arm to look closer.

"They were a big thing in the 80s." he replied.

"Yes tell me more"

"It's a friendship band, I thought it more fitting than a corsage with that outfit."

Once again Ziva was speechless. She blinked furiously as she looked at Tony. "Tony is this a date? Are you taking me out on a date?"

"Maybe." He replied sheepishly.

It's all very predictable I know but it's my first in awhile, and I'm warming up for a bigger fic. I have planned. Hope you are enjoying, there is more to come – making most up as I go along, I'm still deciding between two destinations.


	3. I can't

After a few beats, Ziva found her voice and indignation, " Did you think maybe you should ask first? Is that not how it is usually done?"

"Usually yes, but when it comes to you there is no usual. I was sure you would say no."

"Oh course I would. We can't go out Tony, there's … there's lots of reasons why we can't, but mostly there is rule no.12 and the man who makes the rules, Gibbs will kill us or you at least."

Tony moved off to the side of Ziva and absently started to smooth the ruffles on her skirt, he took a deep breath and looked right into Ziva's eyes. "There is only one reason that would matter to me and that is if you… ahh" nervous laugh " ahh if you can tell me that you are not interested in me."

Ziva's head was spinning and her heart was racing, she dropped her eyes to Tony's hand, mesmerized by his fingers repeatedly running along the hem of one of those silly ruffles. She knew what she wanted to say, but there was so much working against them. Someone needed to be reasonable, someone had to be grown up about this, but … letting out a long slow breath, she decided it wasn't going to be her. She placed her hand over Tony's, tangling her fingers amongst his. "I can't"

A few breathless seconds later Tony slowly withdrew his hand from hers and started to stand. "Okay, I can respect that." He sighed.

Ziva's head shot up, "What! Wait! You misunderstood. I meant I can't say I'm not interested."

It was Tony's turn to be speechless, he stammered around a few words before sitting back down with a thud and eventually "Wow!" slipped through a very large grin.

"Although it is very hard to take you seriously in those pants, they are very distracting."

Somehow the grin grew bigger "well I could …"

Ziva smiled teasingly before responding "Maybe later, if you behave."

Tony looked eager for a split second before picking up Ziva's hand and twisting the friendship band he whispered "You know what, I think I'd like to take things slow."

"Yeh, me too" Ziva said giving him a nudge with her shoulder.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Tony broke it with "Well I suppose we should do your hair and get going."

"There will be no doing of my hair, this (indicating her clothes) is embarrassing enough."

"It's just two little pig tails and these gorgeous purple ribbons." He said holding up three shades of purple and placing them on either side of her head. "Perfect!" he laughed.

"Absolutely not, no way am I wearing pigtails, I want some dignity."

"Okay then one pig tail, and we'll leave the other side down, it looked great on Drew Barrymore." He teased.

"Worse and wasn't she a kid in the 80's. A pony tail is as far as I will go." Tony moved to collect her hair when she added "at the back of my head, thank you." As Tony's fingers ran through her hair and he rambled on listing Drew Barrymore's movie resume, she became lost in her thoughts: _It's true, love makes you crazy, hang on did I just admit to love, what happened to go slow and remember this is Tony, perpetual flirt, oh god what am I getting into, I am crazy._

"There we go all done." Tony sat back while Ziva got up to check in the hall mirror.

"Have you been practicing on barbie dolls, Tony." She called back.

"Ha ha very funny, an agent for the NCIS must have many talents – hairdressing is one of mine."

"Really, I'm surprised that you, big macho Italian stud, would admit to such a thing."

"I'll have you know that the Italians invented hairdressing, and it's stallion, Italian Stallion." He corrected as he came to stand in the hall and watch as Ziva applied clear lip gloss.

"We'll see." She replied. "Okay. I'm almost ready, I just need shoes" she said with a cringe. " any hints, can you tell me where we are going yet."

"No, but any shoes will do, as you won't be needing them once we get there."

With a puzzled look Ziva pulled on her black boots.

"Perfect!" Tony leered only to be rewarded with a not so gentle punch to the chest. "You don't do playful do you."

"Your learning." She smiled as she grabbed her keys and headed for the door.

_This was supposed to be a short story, but they have only just left the house, this could be a long one. Again new to this, having lots of fun writing it, hope you enjoy reading._


	4. Chapter 4

_Many, many apologies to anyone who has been reading this and waiting for the next chapter, I started back at work and 25 five to six year olds, new to school, left me kind of brain dead. Holidays are here again and I am determined to finish this story. Hope you enjoy, please review, they help to motivate someone prone to procrastinate._

_No spoilers as I'm an Aussie and we are behind a few or more episodes._

Still stunned by what was happening Ziva sat quietly in the car, failing to even acknowledge Tony as he held the door open for her and then closed it, careful to avoid her elbow as she reached for the belt.

They had driven two blocks before she finally found her voice. "So are you going to tell me where we are going, I'm not so good with surprises, and I have had more than my fair share tonight."

Tony smiled sweetly and patting her on the knee simply replied. "Come on Ziva, it's all about trust, would I do anything to hurt you."

"Hah, you … you can not be trusted Tony Dinozzo, and look at me I look… I look…" Ziva stopped lost for words, her fingers traced the ruffles on her skirt and ran nervously through the ribbons in her hair. "… I have no words for what I look like."

"Well…" Tony began only to be cut off very quickly.

"And neither do you if you value you your life." Ziva threatened.

After a few more blocks and more silence, which was surprisingly comfortable, Ziva was no closer to working out where she was going, this part of town was completely new to her. As a former Mossad operative, who always completed missions with a thorough background check and plan for every conceivable outcome, a mystery date wouldn't usually be as exciting to her as it would be to most women. But then the man planning the date was something else, she snuck a glance at him as he concentrated on driving and tapped his finger on the steering wheel to some mindless song playing quietly, about 'cutting loose and kicking off your Sunday shoes', she had spent months trying to find evidence that the whole womanizing glib court jester thing was all an act, or a small part of who he actually was, without success. Now here she sat next to him dressed up like a bad taste Barbie doll, with no idea where she was going and having admitted she had feelings for him. As weird as this all seemed to her, she knew she was only doing it because it was Tony, that she did in fact trust him implicitly and she admitted she was really starting to enjoy the adventure.

"Almost there." Tony sang, breaking into Ziva's thoughts. She instantly became more alert, looking at her surrounds. They were driving through a quiet area that was a cross between industrial, parkland and small pockets of retail. Still no clues, Ziva sighed.

Tony turned at the lights into a street which instantly showed more life, there were cars, bright lights and people walking around, many of them dressed in a similar fashion to Tony and herself. Ziva watched closely as they drove past a bowling alley, but the people entering that building were dressed in normal clothes, then a games arcade, definitely not there destination Ziva realized at the sight of all the youths in black denim and black rock-band t-shirts, next was a Theatre restaurant – ziva almost groaned out loud at the prospect but that was soon behind them. The car began to slow and finally Tony turned into a carpark. On the corner was a Bingo center, lights blazing and people milling around dressed in similar clothes, no way she thought, she looked incredulously at Tony.

"Bingo!" she exclaimed "Are you kidding!"

Tony laughed "Look again" and he pointed to the building next door, where most of the people were heading. Ziva's eyes almost popped out of her head.

"Roller skating!" she screeched in a very un-Ziva like way. Tony only laughed harder.

_Hope it was worth the wait. I will start working on the next chapter very, very soon._


End file.
